Destiny 2 Power Level Guide: Powerful & Pinnacle Rewards

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by Ric Molina | Feb 5, 2025

In Destiny 2, your Guardian’s Power Level is the average level of all its equipable gear and dictates how much damage you can inflict on enemies and take before dying.

Needless to say, Power Leveling is an essential part of the Destiny 2 experience, allowing you to tackle endgame activities. Our Destiny 2 Beginner’s Guide covers all the other cornerstones, including XP farming, but Power Levels should remain a top priority.

Updated as of The Edge of Fate (Season 27).

Destiny 2 Season 27 Power Caps

Power Leveling remained static for several years, but that all changed with the release of The Edge of Fate. As of today, the Power Caps are the following: All Guardians start with a 10 Base Power Level, the Hard cap is 200, the Seasonal cap is 450.

Level Cap	Power Level	Gear needed
Starting Level	10	–
Hard Cap	200	Any
Seasonal Cap	450	Portal

Destiny 2 Pinnacle Gear

Unlike most MMOs, you can only increase your Power Level by finding higher-level gear. These are all the activities in the game that reward Pinnacle gear (needed to reach the Pinnacle cap):

Source	Location	Rewards	Frequency	Need Fireteam?	Fireteam needed	Type	Requires
Salvation's Edge Encounters 4 Total Rewards	Legends	+2 x 4	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Warlord's Ruin Dungeon Encounters 3 Total Rewards	EDZ	+2 x 3	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle	Lightfall Dungeon Key
Excision Mission Complete Quest	Pale Hearth	+2	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Cooperative Focus Mission Complete Quest	Pale Hearth	+2	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Ghost Bounties Complete Bounties & Open Chests	Pale Hearth	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play
Rituals Pathfinder Complete Path + Resets	Playlists	+2 x 3	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play
Seasonal: Arena Breach Executable 3 Completions	H.E.L.M	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Episode 1: Echoes
Seasonal: Arena Breach Executable (Expert) 3 Completions	H.E.L.M	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Episode 1: Echoes
Seasonal: Enigma Protocol Mission Open Chests	H.E.L.M	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Episode 1: Echoes
Failsafe V1.0 Bounties Complete Bounties & Open Chests	H.E.L.M	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Episode 1: Echoes
Nightfall: The Ordeal Score 200,000 Points	Playlist: Vanguard	+2	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play
Trials of Osiris Win 7 Matches	Playlist: Crucible	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Trials of Osiris Win 50 Rounds	Playlist: Crucible	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Trials of Osiris Win 7 Games with no Losses	Playlist: Crucible	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	The Final Shape
Competitive PvP Complete 7 Placement Matches	Playlist: Crucible	+2	Season	No	No	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play
Weekly Raid Full completion	Various	+2	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle
Weekly Dungeon (Full completion)	Various	+2	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Pinnacle
Iron Banner Dailly Challenges (4 total rewards)	Playlist: Crucible	+2 x 4	Monthly	No	No	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play
Hawthorne It's in the Cards Challenge Give 5 Commendations	Tower	+2	Weekly	No	No	Pinnacle	Free-to-Play

PS: This post only covers how to increase your Base Power Level. You can also gain extra Power Levels by earning XP. We cover that and how to unlock your Season Pass rewards in our XP farming guide.

Destiny 2 Powerful Gear

These are all the activities that reward Powerful-level gear (needed to reach the Powerful Cap):

Source	Location	Rewards	Frequency	Need Fireteam?	Fireteam needed	Type	Requires
Pale Hearth Pathfinder Complete Path	Pale Hearth	+5	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Ritual Activities Complete 3, 6, 9 Activities	Tower	+3 x 3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Gunsmith Spare Parts Challenge Complete 8 Bounties	Tower	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Onslaught: Playlist Complete 50 Waves	Playlist: Vanguard	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Onslaught Complete 30 Waves within a single activity	Playlist: Vanguard	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
The Final Shape Exotic Quests	Exotic Quests	+3	Season	No	No	Powerful	The Final Shape
Legend & Master Lost Sectors Exotics	World drops	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Exotic Engrams	World drops	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Prime Engrams	World drops	+4	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Clan Engram Rewards 4 Total Rewards	Tower	+3 x 4	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Trials of Osiris 3 wins on the same card	Playlist: Crucible	+4	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Powerful	Lightfall
Trials of Osiris 5 wins on the same card	Playlist: Crucible	+4	Weekly	Yes	Yes	Powerful	Lightfall
3 Completions of Strikes, Crucible or Gambit matches 3 Total Rewards	Playlists	+3 x 3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Reputation Rewards Rank Up	Playlist: Crucible	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Reputation Rewards Rank Up	Playlist: Gambit	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Reputation Rewards Rank Up	Playlist: Vanguard	+3	Weekly	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Major Infamy Rank Up	Playlist: Gambit	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Major Valor Rank Up	Playlist: Crucible	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Major Vanguard Rank Up	Playlist: Vanguard	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Major Master Rahool Rank Up	Tower	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Major Hawthorne Rank Up	Tower	+3	Repeatable	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play
Obtain Pursuit weapon	Tower	+3	Season	No	No	Powerful	Free-to-Play

These two tables cover absolutely every Powerful and Pinnacle gear source in Destiny 2. Depending on where you are on your road to Max Power Level, you can filter the tables accordingly. For example, you can filter sources to only see:

Activities requiring a Fireteam (without Matchmaking)
Activities considered “easy” (or hard)
Activities that are free-to-play

For more details about these activities that rotate weekly, you can check out our Weekly Challenges guide, which we update every Tuesday at reset!

How to reach Max Power Level in Destiny 2

You may be familiar with the struggle of chasing Pinnacle gear to eventually reach the Max Power level (and the frustration of getting everything but the one item you need for three weeks in a row).

But whether you’re a returning player or a brand-new player, this section covers how leveling works and how to level up as fast as possible this season.

Guiding Principles to Leveling in Destiny 2:

Your Power Level is the average of the Power Level of all your gear
That average takes into account equipped gear, gear in your inventory, and even gear in your vault.
Never dismantle your highest Power Level item per slot (even if it’s a blue).
- Worst case, you can infuse that blue into a better item.
Playing on 3 characters will help you level up faster
The activities and strategies to level up will change depending on what cap you’re currently at.

As a reminder, this chart summarizes what type of gear you will need to increase your Power Level until you reach that elusive Max Power Level, currently set at 2020:

Level Cap	Power Level	Gear needed
Starting Level	10	–
Hard Cap	200	Any
Seasonal Cap	450	Portal

Destiny 2 Soft cap: 1960 Power Level

Drops from any source will help you increase your Power Level to reach the soft cap.

This part is simple. Basically, everything in the game will drop gear that will help you increase your Power Level. This includes Legendary and Rare gear. In fact, Rare gear (blues) plays a vital role at this stage, and you should be actively seeking blue drops whenever possible!

✅ You should preferably never chase Powerful or Pinnacle rewards before hitting the soft cap first.

Tips to reach the soft cap as fast as possible:

Play The Final Shape campaign in Legend Mode:
Participate in Public Events when you see one (and turn them into Heroic Public events when possible)
Actively search for chests (especially the golden chests in the Cosmodrome)
Do every quest that rewards gear

Again, everything works at this stage. All you need to do is grind and play a lot.

Destiny 2 Powerful cap: 2010 Power

Only Powerful and Pinnacle sources will help you progress towards the Powerful cap. Both Powerful and Pinnacle sources are highlighted in the Directory and the table above.

Note you won’t be able to see Powerful and Pinnacle gear challenges in your directory until you hit the soft cap!

Tips to reach the hard cap as fast as possible:

Only Powerful and Pinnacle gear will increase your average Power Level
Always equalize your gear. More on that below.
Bonus: You can work on your Crucible, Strikes, and Gambit Bounty Challenges to also earn Bright Dust to spend in the Eververse store.

Equalizing your gear: When leveling up, some of your gear will be below the average of the rest. When that happens, you should chase lesser rewards to bring that lagging gear up to the average!

How to equalize your gear

Seasoned players know this crucial method to efficiently increase your Light Level. In fact, true GAMERS used to keep track of their current Power Levels per slot in an Excel sheet. They would then identify the gear that was lagging behind and find ways to bring those slots to the average.

Luckily for you and me, the process is much easier now. All you need to do is launch DIM (shot for Destiny Item Manager, my absolute favorite D2 tool in the world) and click on your Power Level:

This will tell you exactly what slots are lagging behind your average. This means even a Blue piece of gear could help you increase your Power Level for that slot.

For example, you’re going for the Pinnacle cap and see one or more slots lagging behind your average. You basically just need to stop chasing Pinnacle gear and only run activities that reward Powerful gear until all your gear is at the same level as your average. Even better: You can actively chase rewards that will match the slot you’re looking to upgrade. Some examples:

The Season Pass can be kept for when you’re working towards your Powerful or Pinnacle caps and need upgrades for specific slots!
Seasonal Activities often let you choose specific weapons and armor. These are generally Powerful rewards and should be used to level up the slots that need it the most!

And by the way, this equalizing tip is also valid when going for the Powerful cap.

Destiny 2 Pinnacle cap: 2010 Power

This section is straightforward. When you reach the Powerful cap, only Pinnacle sources will give you progress.

Tips to reach the Pinnacle cap as fast as possible:

You can use Powerful gear to equalize your equipment closer to the average (as covered in the previous section)
You can filter the table at the top of this post to only see Pinnacle rewards:
- Most of these activities are not matchmade, which means you’ll have to find a Fireteam beforehand.
- Pro tip: Discord is a great place to find groups, and our LFG guide covers all the best Destiny 2 Discord servers you should check out.

By the way, Bungie made the Pinnacle climb slightly easier in Season 10: Some Powerful gear sources were turned into Pinnacle sources providing +1 Power.

How Level-Up Fast in Destiny 2: Tips and Tricks

If you’ve read this far, you already know how to efficiently increase your Max Power Level in Destiny 2. Those are the basics, but if you’re struggling to level up or simply want to increase your Power Level even faster, the following tips will definitely help:

Prime Engrams

Prime Engrams are a technically unlimited source of Powerful gear (as long as you play the game a lot and RNG stays on your side). Just remember: The Power Level of the Engram will remain at the level it was when found, not when decrypted.

Therefore, decrypt your engrams as soon as possible!

In any case, challenging activities (such as the Raid or Dungeons) will reward you with more Prime Engrams, which can either help you reach the Powerful cap faster or help you equalize gear if you’re already chasing the Pinnacle cap.

Grinding 2 or 3 characters?

If you’re prepared to level up your 3 characters (or 2), you can follow the same steps described above. You need to start with your least important character and finish with your most important character.

As soon as you’re done with the first character, transfer its highest Power Level weapons to the next character. Rinse and repeat.

Easy Pinnacle Sources in Destiny 2

Powerful sources are fairly common and not particularly challenging. Pinnacle sources are a different story. They are difficult because they are connected to activities, but mostly because they often require you to find your own Fireteam.

These are, in my opinion, the easiest Pinnacle sources in the game (trust me, I’ve done them weekly just by using LFG tools):

Playlist Pinnacles: These only grant +1 Power Level, but they are extremely easy compared to the others.
Nightfall: The Ordeal: Most people know how to run it, so finding a capable group in LFG is easy.

And these are, in a nutshell, easier ways to slowly reach the max Light Level cap in Destiny 2.

Before you go…

The entire purpose of leveling up as fast as possible is to have access to the most challenging and rewarding activities in Destiny 2.

See latest Updates

We keep our content up to date! These are the latest changes made to this guide:

July 19, 2025: Major updates to reflect the changes released with The Edge of Shape DLC.
February 5, 2025: Minor updates following the release of Episode 3: Heresy.
June 26, 2024: Major updates following the release of The Final Shape DLC.
February 29, 2024: General updates, including activities released during Season of the Wish (S23).
September 18, 2023: General updates, including activities released during Season of the Witch.
May 24, 2024: General updates to reflect the introduction of Season of the Deep.
Jan 12, 2023: General updates connected to Seasons 19 gear sources.
Jun 6, 2022: General updates connected to Season 17: Crown of Sorrow gear sources added, War Table sources removed.

Stay tuned, and don’t forget to bookmark this page for next season!

About The Author

Ric Molina

I've been covering gaming since 2012, and some of my work has been featured by large brands, including MSN.com, Forbes, Rock Paper Shotgun, and more. I've been obsessed with Destiny 2 (and now Diablo 4) for years now, and I hope to provide new and returning players with the guides and resources I wish I had when I first started. More from Ric Molina

38 Comments

marcos on October 25, 2020 at 10:46 am
Hi,

I red a ton of topics regarding my questions and still not sure what is the right answer. I am currently power level 1,013 (1,006 gear + 7 artifact). First, do I have to wear my highest weapons and armors in order to drop better gear? If not, should I kept them with me or having them in my vault is okay to get better gear?

Second, what’s the range of the level of the droped gear compared to your power level? For instance, in my case, if I drop an item/endgram, would it be around -3/+3 or -3/0?

thank you in advance!
Reply
- Aeck on November 12, 2020 at 1:28 am
  You can have them in your inventory or vault and still get better gear, dont worry.
  Reply
Grover on November 19, 2020 at 9:29 pm
Is Luna’s Calling still a thing? I don’t see it
Reply
John won on December 3, 2020 at 7:20 pm
Nope.. Didn’t n not working for me at all wasted 10 pinnacles in two weeks, they even drop 1 level lower than my equipped one. U hv to be equipped with highest numbers to get +1 or +2 pinnacle. I don’t know is it just happening with me constantly or in general tht no one seems to talk abt it yet.😢
Reply
- Pointynose on January 1, 2021 at 10:50 pm
  All of the moon activities that have a gold icon on the map representing that they drop powerful gear have only dropped sunset 1060 gear for me. Lunas calling, memory of vel tarlowe, etc. are a waste of time if you’re trying to get powerful gear over 1060.
  Reply
- adrift on February 19, 2021 at 3:44 pm
  I don’t really know what the issue is for you, but pinnacles will drop +1 or +2 no matter if you have the gear equipped or not. Could you be a bit more specific?
  Reply
  - Robert Dawson on May 10, 2021 at 5:20 pm
    ive came across this issue as well, ive had a full weeks worth of pincils drop -1 light then what my charator was,
    Reply
- aki on September 13, 2022 at 2:20 am
  Which 4 of the 5 encounters in Kings fall drop +2 pinnacles?
  Reply
barton on December 18, 2020 at 2:09 pm
Hey, love the page and the help it provides. Just wanted to say that I did the Pinnacle Exo Challenge at PL 1257 and my drop was 1259. It may only be a +2 drop or may have a range. Thanks,
Reply
- Pointynose on January 1, 2021 at 10:51 pm
  Same. Nothing has dropped at +3 for me yet.
  Reply
- adrift on February 19, 2021 at 3:42 pm
  There are no +3 drops. That +3 is a powerful before you upgrade it to a pinnacle. All pinnacles are either +1 or +2
  Reply
Stephen on March 11, 2021 at 12:37 am
My curious thought is why isn’t Strike Playlists Pinnacle +1 and Gambit Pinnacle +1 on there? I set it on Pinnacle to see which missions only give them and Strike Playlist and Gambit don’t pop up on that list which I found odd because I swear they give a Pinnacle +1 after 3 games just like Crucible.
Reply
vladimir on March 19, 2021 at 11:53 am
The table is missing a weekly powerful +3 engram when completing 8 bounties from the War Table.
Reply
Kimberly on May 12, 2021 at 11:19 pm
This guide is very well done and makes things easy to understand, keep up the great work!!
Reply
Hestia on September 3, 2021 at 5:36 pm
Thank you so much for this fantastic resource. Keep up the good work!
Reply
- Jaybird on December 22, 2021 at 8:54 am
  Maybe a bit pedantic, but I’d like to point out that the Trials powerfuls and pinnacles are no longer F2P. Accessing Trials requires the most recently released expansion as of the start of Season of the Lost.
  Reply
  - Ric Molina on December 22, 2021 at 6:06 pm
    Not at all. I was meaning to update that but couldn’t get around to it. Now everything should be up to date. Thanks for the heads up!
    Reply
BrendAn on November 22, 2021 at 10:11 am
Chattered realm? Small mistake
Reply
- Ric (aka Prim) on November 22, 2021 at 12:28 pm
  Can’t believe I missed that one. Now corrected. Thanks!
  Reply
theliquidchef on January 13, 2022 at 9:45 am
Can anyone get the list filter to work? It seems to be broken on my side on Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
Reply
- Ric Molina on January 13, 2022 at 10:27 am
  Yep, messed up some code yesterday! Everything is resolved now, thanks for the heads up 😉
  Reply
Doug on February 22, 2022 at 11:56 am
“….the lower your Power level compared to your enemy, the more damage you take and the less damage you receive.”

Unless I’m not understanding this correctly, but do you mean “less damage you do”?
Reply
- Ric "Prim" Molina on February 22, 2022 at 4:06 pm
  That is correct. That was a typo on my end, thank you for the heads up! It is now corrected!
  Reply
Mandema King on March 9, 2022 at 1:11 am
The “pinnacle table” currently shows the weekly “Exotic Quests: Vox Obscura” item is available to all Witch Queen players. However, the exotic quest for Vox Obscura (i.e. “Kill the Messenger”) requires the Season Pass for Season of the Risen.
Reply
AgamingTV on March 23, 2022 at 9:47 am
I would definitely recommend this guide to anyone looking to get the most out of Destiny 2
Reply
NAD on April 21, 2022 at 4:15 am
Great guide. Could you update the power level tables in the Why Power Levels still matter section though?
Reply
Doug Smith on June 23, 2022 at 4:24 am
Weekly Preservation Campaign +2 Pinnacle power increase? Great info!
Reply
Doug Smith on June 28, 2022 at 5:40 pm
Are you going to update your chart “Pinnacle gear sources in Season of the Haunted”?
Reply
- Ric "Prim" Molina on June 28, 2022 at 10:18 pm
  I updated it a few weeks ago, but if you’re asking I guess I missed something! Did you notice an error or something outdated?
  
  Thanks for the heads up by the way 🙂
  Reply
Aelund on August 28, 2022 at 10:23 pm
Yo just FYI the tables are broken for some reason, seems someone messed up the code for them.
Reply
Steven on September 20, 2022 at 7:07 am
I am not sure about +1 vs +2, but Duality gives a pinnacle at each encounter, so that is 3 pinnacle drops (just confirmed today).
Reply
ian on October 22, 2022 at 9:40 pm
helped me a lot
Reply
Night on March 7, 2023 at 1:09 am
you said this is updated for season 20 but you guys need to double check a lot of this information: master wellspring and legend dares are marked as no fireteam needed even though dungeons are marked as fireteam needed vox obscura no longer exists glory ranks no longer exist partition and the weekly mission are not on throne worldw 100,000 in nightfall is still listed as an “easy pinnacle source” at the bottom of the page
Reply
MICHAEL on May 29, 2023 at 2:16 pm
It seems that War Table Bounties are also Powerful, not Pinnacle.
Reply
JEFF on July 1, 2023 at 7:09 pm
Pinnacle and powerful sources need to be updated for Season of the Deep (Season 21). Many pinnacle sources were reduced to powerful including Crucible, Gambit, and Strikes and the Season 20 dungeon and seasonal activities are no longer upgrade sources. The locations of some activities are also incorrect, like Spire of the Watcher is launched from the Throne World, not the HELM.
Reply
Skald on May 11, 2024 at 6:22 am
Thanks for a great guide for someone new to D2. I played 8h or so years ago, was overwhelmed (just as you explained) and quit. I fired it up again two days ago and loved it. Just a few comments for someone who effectively started from the beginning. Leveling several characters: it seems the level is shared between all characters (should mayby be mentioned). Pinnacle gear. There is a chest now with 1810 gear you pick up at Hall of champions making the grind minimal. I’m bouncing between if should or shouldn’t picked it up for my experience of the game and play through. The content feels very playable even though I’m at 1810 after 15min but I guess I’m more collecting 1810 gear than grinding higher levels. but mayby you can comment on that.
Reply
cuatronicko on July 14, 2024 at 2:27 am
Ghost and FailSafe Bounty objectives are not pinnacles. They are Powerfuls and listed as such on the map.
Reply
YouTube Premium App on November 11, 2024 at 11:27 pm
Great guide! I really appreciate the detailed tips on power leveling. The section on seasonal activities was especially helpful. Can’t wait to try out the recommended strategies to boost my light level!
Reply